UK & World News

Driver Jailed For Running Down Police Officer

A man who ran down a policeman after driving at more than 80 miles per hour has been jailed for eight and a half years.

Gary Bromige, also known as Gary Cody, was on his way to a Krispy Kreme doughnuts shop with four friends in the early hours of September 20 last year when traffic police tried to stop him on Reigate Avenue in Sutton, South London.

PC Andy Duncan stepped out in an attempt to pull him over, but Bromige ran down the father-of-two in his black Volkswagen Golf, throwing him 30 metres and leaving him with fatal injuries.

The Metropolitan Police officer, who had been with the force for 23 years, died in hospital two days later.

Bromige was quoted as saying everyone was in the car "having the banter".

Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, said the speed of the Golf before Bromige braked was 80-88mph and if he had been travelling at the speed limit he would have been able to stop.

He drove away from the scene and abandoned the car.

The court heard Bromige rang his father and told him he had "done it this time". His father told him to hand himself in, which he did that day.

Kingston Crown Court was told Bromige was heard saying in prison: "Prison is easy. I've got my telly. Don't care how long I get." He kept newspaper clippings of the incident in his cell and showed them to other inmates.

A prison officer said Bromige asked him: "Do you know who I am? I'm the one on the news. The one who ran the policeman over. I'm probably on telly all over the world."

Bromige pleaded guilty in December to causing death by dangerous driving, causing death while uninsured, causing death while unlicensed, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.

Sentencing him, Judge Nicholas Price QC said society and Mr Duncan's family had been "robbed of a man in the prime of his life who had so much to offer".

"I struggle to find anything of real benefit to be said on your behalf," he said to Bromige.

Mr Duncan's wife Claire said their lives had been "changed completely" by his "devastating" death.

"They (his children) are struggling with this every day. My daughter has said that she is so upset that her dad had so much more to teach her. My son has said that he no longer wants to learn to drive. Not having their dad around will affect them forever."